Lost Doctor Who Daleks episode lives again as archive comes to auction

Lost Doctor Who Daleks episode lives again as archive comes to auction

‘Lost’ episodes of TV series have become sought-after items, not least among Doctor Who fans. Of interest to collectors is an archive of photographs and copies of plans from The Power of the Daleks – the completely missing third serial of the fourth season first broadcast by the BBC in six weekly parts from November 5-December 10, 1966.

You have 2 more free articles remaining

The collection will be offered as a single lot, estimated at £800-1200, in the eclectic Fine & Decorative auction taking place on March 21 in West Norwood, south London, at the saleroom of Roseberys.

The master tapes of all six episodes were erased in the late 1960s, while the copies kept for foreign sales on 16mm film were destroyed in 1974. Their destruction meant that the only information to survive on the series was limited to stills photography and films made by fans when the programmes were broadcast.

The Power of the Daleks marks the first time that the doctor regenerates from the first actor to play him, William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton. The collection was owned by the late production designer and art director, Derek Dodd (1937-2018), who made set designs for The Power of the Daleks and The Wheel in Space.

Dodd worked with some of the most formative of writers and directors from the television age including Stephen Frears, Stephen Poliakoff and Dennis Potter. His work has received BAFTA and EMMY nominations.

The collection contains approximately 100 black and white photographs of the sets, with 47 similar photographs mounted on board. Three of these are coloured or toned to include a colour reproduction image of Troughton as the doctor by the TARDIS, with other loose pieces of art work, nine plans for interiors, a copy of a special effects drawing of a Dalek by Raymond Cusick (who designed the shells that are widely familiar today) and various notes on a shooting schedule of The Power of the Daleks.

There are also 13 copies of plans for interiors for the mostly missing seventh serial of the fifth season, The Wheel in Space, and a poster featuring a Dalek titled To Victory.

Doctor Who trailblazer

In February last year the original script for the first-ever Doctor Who episode came up for auction in the West Midlands. Its desirability was helped by the fact it was used and owned by the very first Doctor Who actor, William Hartnell.

Featured on the BBC Antiques Roadshow on December 31 at the end of 2017, the script – for Doctor Who and the Tribe of Gum, by Anthony Coburn – was on offer at Aston’s Auctioneers of Dudley estimated at £5000-8000 and made a hammer price of £6200.

The episode was broadcast on the BBC on November 23, 1963. The four episodes, all shown at 5.15pm on consecutive Saturdays, were titled An Unearthly Child, The Cave of Skulls, The Forest of Fear and The Firemaker.

The script was 43 pages long complete with blue pencil annotations by Hartnell. The vendor's grandfather discovered the script while refurbishing Hartnell's cottage in East Sussex.

Tom Baker era

Also at auction in 2018, In its March 6 sale in Cardiff, Rogers Jones offered rare scripts from a series that was never shown at the time, the 1979 Shada series from the Tom Baker era. Offered in one lot estimated at £200-400, they made £1300 hammer.

It was written by Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame. He wrote one other Doctor Who story, The Pirate Planet, broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 September 30-October 21, 1978. The intention was for it to be the final serial of the 1979-80 season. However, it was never completed due to a strike action at the BBC.

The Shada scripts parcel is inscribed with director's notes. It has been consigned by Betsan Roberts, widow of the the late Pennant Roberts (who was credited as director), on behalf of the charity Shelter Cymru.